Julia Alvarez is a Latin American author born in New York but raised in the Dominican Republic until age 10. She uses her writing to explore her cultural identity as a political refugee. One of her first works, "Antojos", is about a young woman named Yolanda taking a journey on a windy road in the Dominican Republic as she struggles with her cultural confusion having been uprooted at a young age. The themes explored are the connection between values and culture, the power of language, and life as a journey.

1. Julia Alvarez
“Antojos”
Latin American Author

2. Background
 Born in NYC
 Raised in Dominican Republic until
the age of 10—fled as political
refugees
 Used writing as a way to find her
cultural identity being uprooted so
young

3. Works
 Volumes of poetry: Homecoming (1984),
The Other Side (1995), and The Woman I
Kept to Myself (2004).
 Novels: How the García Girls Lost Their
Accents (1991), In the Time of the
Butterflies (1994), ¡Yo! (1997) and In the
Name of Salomé (2000).
 Her fiction, like her poetry, deals with both
the immigrant experience and her own
bicultural identity.

4. “Antojos”
 Became the first chapter of How the
Garcia Girls lost their Accents
 Antojos means “cravings” in Spanish
 Craving—connotations?
 Why title it in Spanish and write it in
English?

5. Setting
 A windy country road in the
Dominican Republic. It is specific
because this is about a journey that
the main character takes and her
cultural confusion which can only
take place outside her home in a
place that should be her home.
 Yolanda’s journey—like a windy
country road

6. Tone
 The tone is elegiac/nostalgic
longing for something…maybe a
bit illusive and confused

7. Conflict
 Main conflict: internal it is her
struggle to find a closer connection
with her homeland even though
she feels somewhat alienated at
times.
 Sub-conflicts:
Man vs. nature/technology: she
struggles to fix her car and remove
herself from danger.

8. Literary Elements
 Flashback: thinking about her home;
thinking about her time with her aunts
 Foreshadowing: the bumpy road
indicates something might happen
 Motif: Palmolive
 Symbolism: guavas==antojos—
possession by an island spirit
demanding its due—clue to the conflict

9. Theme
 Values are connected to culture
and we need to focus in on the
values that we really feel rather
than ones we can never attain.
 Language is power
 Life is journey

10. Theme
 Values are connected to culture
and we need to focus in on the
values that we really feel rather
than ones we can never attain.
 Language is power
 Life is journey